Shadowgate is the latest classic game to try for a Kickstarter revamp

Creators seek $120,000 to update point-and-click adventure.

We could start this post with a list of all the classic computer game franchises that are coming back thanks to Kickstarter crowdfunding, but it might actually take less time to list the games that don't have a revamp in the works. That list got one game shorter today with the launch of a Kickstarter page for an updated version of the point-and-click adventure classic Shadowgate.

The original Shadowgate, which was among the first adventure games with a graphical point-and-click interface, is well-remembered for the many colorful ways players could die without even trying. After the original Macintosh release in 1987, the game was famously ported to everything from the Apple IIGS to the Game Boy Color. But Dave Marsh and Karl Roelofs, who worked on the original Shadowgate with ICOM Simulations over 25 years ago, promise this new version isn't just another port. They have repurchased the rights to the series—as well as spiritual successors Deja Vu and Uninvited—in order to create what they call "the Shadowgate that we always wanted to make."

The new game will feature redesigned puzzles and an expanded storyline while retaining the major plot devices from the original game, the creators said. Besides modernized graphics (that now notably take up the entire screen rather than a small window), the update also promises a streamlined interface. Players will also be able to choose between a newly orchestrated score from composer Rich Douglas or the original soundtrack created for the NES version by Hiroyuki Masuno.

"What many people don't realize is that, over the years, Dave and I would get together and we would redesign the Shadowgate puzzles and even create new Shadowgate adventures," Roelofs says in the Kickstarter video. "We are thrilled that we have the opportunity to capture the unique excitement of the original while expanding on the world and mythos like never before."

The team, which has already invested its own resources in starting the project, is seeking $120,000 to complete versions for PC, Mac, iOS, and Android. A pledge of $10 earns early DRM-free downloads, while $130 or more also nets an original Shadowgate card game designed by Mayfair Games' Coleman Charlton.

"Long neck, no hands, 100 legs, cannot stand. Born of forest nest, against a wall I rest."

"First burnt and beaten, drowned and pierced with nails, then stepped on by long-faced animals."

"I'm a fire's friend, my body swells with wind. With my nose I blow, how the embers glow!!"

"I've no eyes, but once did see, thoughts had I but now I'm white, and empty."

"It has towns, but no houses. Forests, but no trees. Rivers, but no fish."

"You look at me, I look back, your right hand raises, I my left. You speak, but I in vain."

In an effort to answer these on my own, I've just spent way too much time on Wikipedia reading up on insects. For some reason, I even ended up reading about pill bugs, and am now tempted to catch one as a pet.

I think I can answer most of those, with the exception of the first one (That one led me down the path of forest insects) and the one about "I'm white, and empty".

"Long neck, no hands, 100 legs, cannot stand. Born of forest nest, against a wall I rest."

"First burnt and beaten, drowned and pierced with nails, then stepped on by long-faced animals."

"I'm a fire's friend, my body swells with wind. With my nose I blow, how the embers glow!!"

"I've no eyes, but once did see, thoughts had I but now I'm white, and empty."

"It has towns, but no houses. Forests, but no trees. Rivers, but no fish."

"You look at me, I look back, your right hand raises, I my left. You speak, but I in vain."

We had the NES version but I was too young so it would frustrate me playing by myself. I remember watching my dad play and wishing I was older so I could play too. Of course, we moved on to PC gaming a little later so I forgot about it. Perhaps I'll get the chance now. Interestingly, my boys are about the same age now that I was when it came out for NES.

I had a love/hate relationship with these kinds of games when I was growing up. I loved the atmosphere and the stories, but if you hit a brick wall progress-wise you had to hope that a friend new how to figure it out or that the strategy guide was still available or you might never see the ending.

I once went to every game store in town looking for a strategy guide to Day of the Tentacle.

The internet can certainly ruin the challenge of adventure games, but at least you can feel some sense of resolution.

There's a part of me that constantly asks "How retro is too retro?" when I see stuff like this. I'm all for reviving old worlds (because I refuse to use the term 'IP' for something that should be viewed as something more important than someone else's "property") but there are certainly any number of innovations in gaming which have occurred between now and the "old school" days of video gaming, which I feel should be applied to attempts to revamp an old game. When I think of something like Quest for Glory (of which I own the entire series somewhere in my boxed up collection of CD's and floppies) I realize that I don't want to actually play Quest for Glory. I want to play a game with Skyrim's mechanics, or something similar, set in Quest for Glory's world, that takes fond memories of the various situations in the game, and uses them to create similar situations using the new technology and the advancements in game mechanic design that have occurred over the past 20-30 years.

There's a part of me that constantly asks "How retro is too retro?" when I see stuff like this. I'm all for reviving old worlds (because I refuse to use the term 'IP' for something that should be viewed as something more important than someone else's "property") but there are certainly any number of innovations in gaming which have occurred between now and the "old school" days of video gaming, which I feel should be applied to attempts to revamp an old game. When I think of something like Quest for Glory (of which I own the entire series somewhere in my boxed up collection of CD's and floppies) I realize that I don't want to actually play Quest for Glory. I want to play a game with Skyrim's mechanics, or something similar, set in Quest for Glory's world, that takes fond memories of the various situations in the game, and uses them to create similar situations using the new technology and the advancements in game mechanic design that have occurred over the past 20-30 years.

That's understandable, but I think I could enjoy a silly point-and-click adventure game with perhaps a few new mechanics. To me, those games were pretty much all about the artwork and writing. Not that either were particularly amazing, but hey, it was the 80s/90s and my 13 year old mind was easily amused. Still is.

There's a part of me that constantly asks "How retro is too retro?" when I see stuff like this. I'm all for reviving old worlds (because I refuse to use the term 'IP' for something that should be viewed as something more important than someone else's "property") but there are certainly any number of innovations in gaming which have occurred between now and the "old school" days of video gaming, which I feel should be applied to attempts to revamp an old game. When I think of something like Quest for Glory (of which I own the entire series somewhere in my boxed up collection of CD's and floppies) I realize that I don't want to actually play Quest for Glory. I want to play a game with Skyrim's mechanics, or something similar, set in Quest for Glory's world, that takes fond memories of the various situations in the game, and uses them to create similar situations using the new technology and the advancements in game mechanic design that have occurred over the past 20-30 years.

That's understandable, but I think I could enjoy a silly point-and-click adventure game with perhaps a few new mechanics. To me, those games were pretty much all about the artwork and writing. Not that either were particularly amazing, but hey, it was the 80s/90s and my 13 year old mind was easily amused. Still is.

I know I would still enjoy a point and click adventure game. 2 recent ones that are pretty good:

Also: just because a couple of high-profile game designers have managed to pull in a few million doesn't mean every Tom, Dick, and Harry from the 80s and 90s is going to get money thrown at them. Especially if they keep stacking up like this.

Hard truth: I don't want Shadowgate half as badly as I want a new Infinity Engine-style game.

Hard truth: I don't want Shadowgate half as badly as I want a new Infinity Engine-style game.

Sure, but we're already getting that (the Kickstarter ended a little over a week ago and they raised $4M). I agree with you though -- unlike with Project Eternity, I will wait for this one to be finished and then decide whether to buy it or not.

-i see a mirror-examine mirror-"a dimensional portal opens and you are sucked inside"-game over

My very few memories of Shadowgate all go something like that.

yeah.

me and my brother played it on nes. we'd get so far then stumped. come back 2 weeks later fresh and get another couple puzzles solved then stumped. rinse repeat till we finally beat it. probably took 5 years.

I'm glad they are bringing this style of game back, I'll have to kick some funds at them. I tried firing up Shadowgate recently, and for the life of me can't make it very far I do remember being sadly disappointed in The Uninvited, I finished it my first playthrough without dying.

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in Pittsburgh, PA.